Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1887-01-20
sIYaLE-P0EM POETS.

'Fha Many Men whose Og IL bstty |
Keats Upon "a Few aAappS Lines.
Henry Watterson In the Louisville |
GolTier-J Journal says; An interesting |
list might be made of single-poem poets, |
and an instructive essay be written on |
their lives and works. Single.Speech |
Hamilton made many speeches, though
but one has become famous. And Charles
Wolfe wrote more than the burial of Sir
John Moore, yet by this one poem will he
always be remembered. So, too, George
Withers' Shall be Wasting in Despair is
only the best known of large number Ut
poems--some of them quite equal to 1t,
from critical point of view, perhaps
| superior. Shirley would hardly be re-
| Numbered by general readers but for bis
| fine ode, The Glories of Our Blood and
State. Thomas of Oelano would be for
| gotten but for Dies Irae, and those great
| national hymns, the Star Spangled Ban
ner, the Wacht am Rhein, the Mar
seillaise and God Save the Queen, may be
accounted famous works Of single. poem
poets. Many people who talk of Ben
johnson would be puzzled to quote
single line except from his Drink to Me
Only With Thine Eyes; aud, though
Walters name is SO we'll known. he -
more often recognized us the writer of
the lines on girdle than on account OF
anything else. Thompson's kula Brit
tannia has earned bin more fame Than his
SIeasons or his epitaph on Newton amt
more people know Gray's Elegy thnn have
ever even read bis Odes. Samuel Wood
worth wrote The Old Oaken Bucket, but
who wrote Ben Bolt and The Old Con
tinentRls?
IA hot ariF 10 f,NP
tnnate enough to produce two such well
| known pieces ns Oampbells iIoheniinden
and Ye Mariners of England while Dib-
din, though he wrote so much that once
was popular, would DO almost forgotten
, now but for Tom Bowling. Such list
! might be greatly prolonged. Lady Aun
ISndsay's Aud Robin Gray William
Speneer's Death of Gelert, and Gays How
: Happy Could be With Either, might all
be cited, and many more; but enough has
? been said to show how little even the best
critics can judge of poets powers by a
single specimen, and how much the acct
dent, il il can SO be termed, of one happy
y line or one good melody may have to dc
Il with the fame Of writer who would
+ otherwise be unknown. These remark.
u apply with greater force TO soDg-writers
than to any other versifers. good frs
V line often makes song, and still more !
q good tune, without which, indeed, i
!. would fall comparatively into oblivion
il John Howard Payne Only wrote th'
words, not the melody of Home, Swee
n Home.
The personal history of most of thes
a single-poeln poets has unique characte
y and flavor and that of Richard Henry Wild
y ia no exception to the rule. He was BON
in Ireland in 1889. But whilst he wa
yet child, his father emigrated iron
y Dublin, where the family resided, Il
g America, and established himself il
II Baltimore. Not long after this his fathe
:, died. and, as SO often happens, a goo
mother raised and educated him. Befor
he attained his majority he removed +
y Georgia and settled in Augusta where h
If studied law, rose to distinction and be
n same great man. He was Attorney
n General of Georgia at %, and entere
s Congress in 1916, when he was jus
g turned 26. He served brilliantly in tn
House, excepting two brief intervals
i during the next 20 years. After an e1
D. tensive course of foreign travel he re
+. turned to America in 1913, and accepte
,u the professorship of law in the Uniyersit
ne of Louisiana, for which his eminer
aolilkiee ...tsaIy 4u@llneu MN, az
az this position no filled 8ueoes5fally to tt
s end Of his life. Hs was handsome W
-, q charming man, and bcBidco Che laA41
=. a poem which has made his name famili
;n to our literature, wrote many minor vers
of undoubted merit.
Wilde's grave, in an old cemetery ne
ne Augusta, lies in state of neglect, al
en the plan of Mr.. Randall and his ass
~. ciates to rescue his remains and RENT
> them by the side of those of Hayne c
lei not be too highly commended. 1t "
Lord Byron who said of My Life is Lik
ty, Summer Rose, in a letter to Shelle.
er, ''Th%e is nothing more musical
it fresher with the dews OF the morning Il
he the garden than this delicious lyri,
ug There was praise indeed, but none
ne. great for verses which are as full
Ice Verdure ss they are full of grace, rhytl
ne aud Telling